Pasta With Roasted Red Peppers and Goat Cheese

By Martha Rose Shulman

Pasta With Roasted Red Peppers and Goat Cheese
Andrew Scrivani for The New York Times
Total Time
10 minutes
Rating
4(447)
Comments
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Years ago, I stayed with an Italian friend in Bologna who worked long hours at his job. By the time he got home, he was hungry, so he’d start water boiling and cast about his tiny kitchen to see what he could use for dinner. Then, to my fascination, he’d whip up a delicious pasta sauce from almost nothing: a few anchovies and some walnuts, or a can of tuna and another of beans. Yesterday’s bread became today’s bread crumbs, browned in olive oil with garlic and tossed with spaghetti, olives, capers and jarred tomato purée. I try to keep a jar of roasted peppers handy at all times. They’re useful for panini, pizzas and especially pastas like this one. Spanish piquillo peppers are particularly sweet, but bell peppers will do as well. If you have basil, it’s delicious in this dish — but not required.

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Ingredients

Yield:Serves four

    For the Pasta With Roasted Red Peppers and Goat Cheese

    • 2tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
    • 2garlic cloves, minced
    • 1cup thinly sliced roasted sweet red peppers
    • Salt
    • freshly ground pepper
    • 4large basil leaves, cut in slivers chiffonade optional
    • 3ounces goat cheese, crumbled
    • ¾pound pasta, any shape
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (4 servings)

444 calories; 13 grams fat; 4 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 6 grams monounsaturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 67 grams carbohydrates; 3 grams dietary fiber; 4 grams sugars; 15 grams protein; 347 milligrams sodium

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Preparation

  1. For the Pasta With Roasted Red Peppers and Goat Cheese

    1. Step 1

      Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Meanwhile, heat the olive oil over medium heat in a large, heavy skillet. Add the garlic. Cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the sliced roasted peppers, and stir together for about a minute until well infused with the oil and garlic. Season with salt and pepper, and stir in the basil (if using) and goat cheese. Remove from the heat.

    2. Step 2

      When the water comes to a boil, salt generously and add the pasta. Cook until al dente — firm to the bite — following the recommendations on the package. Ladle about ½ cup of the pasta cooking water into the frying pan, and stir well so that the goat cheese begins to melt. Drain the pasta, and toss immediately with the pepper mixture in the pan. Serve.

Tip
  • Advance preparation: You can make this through Step 1 several hours before you wish to serve it. Add the basil and cheese only when you reheat it.

Ratings

4 out of 5
447 user ratings
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Comments

Katherine Canipelli

Our house version of this adds little balls of sweet Italian sausage with fennel (browned in the skillet as a first step), chopped sun-dried tomatoes, pitted black olives (kalamata), with a bit less roasted red pepper and a garnish of chopped parsley. The sweet-salty-fennel combo is hmmmmmm good. Cook it for dinner, enjoy leftovers for lunch (with a bit more goat cheese added before microwaving to reheat).

Sandra B

This recipe is now my go-to recipe--especially since I have it memorized. I have made it about ten times and make it bit different each time. I throw in mushrooms, spinach, tonight I used onions too and usually I make either chicken or sausage on the grill and throw that in too...always turns out amazing. I use the liquid from the peppers too and try not to use more than a cup of liquid or it tastes watered down. Everyone I make it for loves it...so easy and quick to make and so delish!

Molly Gallucci

I added some chopped roased onions that I had roasted with the peppers and a leftover grilled chicken breast (cut up into bite sized pieces) to the skillet and they made great additions!

carl

This is a classic recipe that I picked up years ago from a neighbor. Glad to see it listed here. I also add a large couple of handfuls of arugula. It blends perfectly with the goat cheese, peppers and pasta. I use fettuccine. It’s a beautiful presentation as well.

nancy

Made spring 2024…goat cheese is great… melts right into the pasta. Brought to room temp as meal was prepared. Made couple of meals for us. Jarred peppers.

delicious with tomatoes

Thought we had peppers in the pantry but they were sun dried tomatoes in oil. Whoops. It was still delicious.

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